Someone Else's Care
by forbesfever
Summary: When Derek passes away, there is no doubt that Charlotte will be there for Amelia. Charlotte/Cooper past Addison/Derek


Its the middle of the day when Addison gets the call. It's unusual to hear from Webber unless he needs her help on a case, but Addison happily picks up the phone. "Chief Webber! To what do I owe this surprise!" She hears him hesitate on the other line before speaking "Addison, you may want to sit down for this. There.. There was an accident and Derek, Derek is dead." Addison is pretty sure she stopped breathing. She and Derek may not be together anymore but he was a major part of her life, and she will always have a special place in her heart for him. Her eventual reply comes shakily over the phone line "When is the service? How is Meredith? And Amelia? How about the ki—."

"Addison," Webber interrupts "The service is in four days. Meredith is at the house with the kids and some of us are keeping an eye on her. Now Amelia, she is telling everyone she is fine but I'm not so sure. Owen Hunt is keeping an eye on her."

Addison takes a deep breath before replying "Ok, I am going to take the first flight out tomorrow evening after I settle everything here. You know most of the practice is going to want to come as well. Could you just let Meredith know that I am coming? I do not want to blind side her, especially in her condition."

"That sounds like a plan Addison," replied Webber "I wish you didn't have to come back in such circumstances but it will be nice to see you. Travel safe Addison," Webber then hangs up, leaving Addison to cross her arms and lay down her head, crying.

* * *

Addison calls a meeting at the end of the day, and she is dreading having to break the news to her friends. Derek's friends. They all trickle in in the usual pairs: Charlotte and Cooper, Sam and Naomi and Violet and Pete. Once everyone is settled, they turn and look at her. She takes a deep breathe before speaking because she is going to need a hell of a lot of courage to get through this.

"Derek got in an accident, and he, passed away yesterday," she blurts out in one breath. She can hear the gasps from the whole table. Naomi is already welling up and Sam is pulling her into a hug almost instantly. Charlotte looks dumbfounded and Cooper looks mostly the same. Addison had been most worried about Sam and Naomi but the whole table has known Derek Shepard in some way, and he had touched lives, even the lives of those he did not know.

* * *

As soon as Charlotte had exited the conference room she whipped her phone out and dialed Amelia. She stalked to her office and waited for the expected Cooper trail before closing the door. The phone rang and rang until Charlotte heard Amelia's voicemail. At the beep she tried to keep the urgency out of her voice when she began to speak "Amelia. It's me. I just heard the news. Amelia I am so sorry darlin'. Listen please call me back. I just need to make sure you're ok. Please just call me." After putting down her phone Charlotte turned to connect eyes with Cooper and they stood in silence for a while.

* * *

The next afternoon, the whole group is on a flight to Seattle. Most of them were drinking in their seats, and it was a very somber flight. When they landed they all climbed into their rental cars and went straight to the hospital. Everyone trailed behind Addison and made their way to Webber's office. When they reached his office everyone exchanged introductions and pleasantries and Webber offered to show the newcomers around the hospital. They were making their way down the halls when Charlotte piped up "Excuse me? Dr. Webber I was wondering if we could see Amelia on this little tour? I haven't been able to speak to her."

Webber agreed and redirected his course. They were walking towards a nurses station when they saw Amelia speaking heatedly with a tall red head. Charlotte sped up ahead of the rest of the group and called out Amelias name. Amelia turned immediately at the sound of Charlottes voice and cut of the man she had been speaking to. Charlotte rushed to Amelia and pulled her into a hug, immediately firing questions at her "Are you ok? Why did't you answer my calls? Have you-." Amelia cut Charlotte off with a watery sounding laugh and burrowed farther into Charlottes shoulder with a quick response of "I'm sorry, I'm fine."

The two women eventually pulled apart to see Webber introducing everyone to the red headed doctor who was looking at Charlotte with a questioning eye. Amelia pulled Charlotte to the group and while gesturing to the red head said "Charlotte, this is Owen Hunt. Owen, this is the only time I will admit that I have a best friend, and this is her."

Owen looked a little surprised but took Charlottes hand when she put it out. "Wow, nice to meet you," he said eying Amelia out of the corner of his eye, "I unfortunately I have not heard of you from Amelia before but, thats Amelia, so I'm not surprised," he said with a laugh. Charlotte smiled while looking between Amelia and Owen with a critical eye. Charlotte released Amelia, allowing her to go greet the rest of the group form L.A, and turned to run an appraising eye over Owen. He seemed amused, but little did he know she was looking him over to have ammo to throw at Amelia later on.

Addison spoke, gaining the attention of the group "Well, I believe we need to check in at the hotel. I have no doubt we will be back tomorrow so we will see you guys in the morning!" Addison gave Webber a parting hug and turned to walk back down the hall with everyone but Charlotte on her heels. Charlotte turned back to Amelia and said "We need to talk. If you do not call me after you get off shift I will find out where you live and come and harass you till you talk to me." With that, Charlotte turned on her heel to stalk toward where Cooper was waiting for her at the end of the hall.

* * *

Amelia departed from the hospital and immediately picked up her phone to call Charlotte, because she knew Charlotte would make good on her threat. The phone rang for about two dial tones before Charlotte picked up with an immediate response "Good, I don't have to go to too much trouble tonight. Come to my hotel so we can talk," Charlotte dictated in a no nonsense tone. Amelia wanted to protest but she knew better and agreed to make her way to Charlotte's hotel.

Charlotte opened the door to reveal a surprisingly empty hotel room. Charlotte directed Amelia to her bed and told her to get comfortable while Charlotte got the ice-cream. Charlotte settled in beside Amelia, handing her her chocolate while Charlotte opened her cookies n' cream. After a few bites in silence Charlotte opened with "So, how are you dealing with Derek's death." She could feel Amelia stiffen next to her but she pushed on "Amelia, I know you. And I know you are not going to want to talk about your feelings, but you need to. You can talk to me Amelia." That opened up the floodgates. Amelia started talking and crying, and Charlotte set aside her ice cream to just hold, and comfort her friend.

* * *

The funeral was hard. Charlotte wanted to stand in the shadows with Cooper but Amelia had seen her and refused to let go of her, so now Charlotte was standing in the front of the group gathered for Derek Shepard's funeral. On the other side of Amelia was Meredith Grey, and Charlotte could see that Meredith was not fully present. Amelia was, steely. She hadn't cried since Charlotte's hotel room, and Charlotte had been there constantly to keep an eye on her. Charlotte had never known Derek Shepard, but Amelia Shepard was Charlotte's best friend. And Charlotte could never let Amelia try and go through this with out her.

* * *

The day Charlotte had to leave Seattle was hard. Charlotte was sure Amelia was not ok, and that made her very hesitant to leave Seattle. Amelia accompanied them to the airport, and Amelia seemed as reluctant to let go as she was. Eventually, Cooper put a hand on Charlottes shoulder to let her know it was time to go. Charlotte pulled away from Amelia and gave her a log hard look and said "Don't hesitate to call me. Anytime, anything. Ok?" Amelia smiled and nodded and pushed Charlottes towards Cooper and the rest of her family. She turned and walked with Copper towards this plane. She would never stop worrying about Amelia, but as she looked over her shoulder to see Amelia standing with Hunt and Webber, Charlotte wasn't worried about leaving Amelia in somebody else care for once. Because they would help make sure Amelia was okay.


End file.
